[ad_1]
In position to claim their first victory away from the Coliseum this season, West Virginia went ice cold in the final three minutes and saw a seven-point second-half lead disappear in a 70-66 loss at Oklahoma State Saturday afternoon at Gallagher-Iba Arena.
The Mountaineers (7-12, 2-5 Big 12) missed their last six shots from the floor over the final three minutes of the game as the Cowboys (9-11, 1-6) became the last Big 12 team to pick up a conference victory. OSU ended the game on an 8-2 run.
Javon Small’s 3-pointer with 53 seconds remaining gave the Cowboys a 67-66 lead and WVU was unable to answer on their final three possessions.
“Credit to Oklahoma State. They made the winning plays at the end,” said West Virginia head coach Josh Eilert on the WVU postgame radio broadcast. “They knocked shots down and put us in rotations on the backside to move the ball and get good looks. On the other end, we just couldn’t convert down the stretch.”
WVU fifth year center Jesse Edwards entered the game at the 13:50 mark of the first half, seeing his first action since December 16. Edwards missed nine games recovering from a broken right wrist. He scored three points in nine first-half minutes, making his first field goal on a slam dunk with two-and-a-half minutes left in the half. Edwards scored four points and pulled down four rebounds in 16 minutes.
“Jesse is going to get you rebounds and some hard rebounds down there. But you have to understand that the wrist is a situation with him at the foul line. If they sniff that out and start hacking him, that’s doesn’t do anybody any good.”
Neither team led by more than three points until the Cowboys used an 8-2 run to take a 16-11 lead eight minutes into the first half. A four-point play from Small gave the Cowboys their largest lead of the first half at 21-14.
West Virginia would score the next 13 points to take a 27-21 lead. Quinn Slazinski had back-to-back 3-pointers and eight total points during that run. Slazinski led all scorers in the first half with ten points.
The Cowboys closed the half on a 7-2 run to pull within a point at 33-32. WVU’s bench outscored OSU 18-9 in the first half.
Consecutive 3-pointers from Kerr Kriisa in the opening minutes of the second half gave the Mountaineers a 39-36 lead. However, the Cowboys used an 11-3 run that was capped by a Jarius Hicklen triple to give OSU a 43-39 cushion.
Noah Farrakhan immediately gave WVU a lift, scoring six consecutive points and then dishing an assist to Akok Akok to give the Mountaineers a 47-46 edge. Slazinski added his third 3-pointer of the game to cap a 9-0 run and put WVU up 50-46.
After the Cowboys drew even at 50, Kriisa connected for his fifth and sixth triples in the game, putting WVU up by six at 56-50. Kriisa connected on his first six attempts from beyond the arc.
Kriisa scored a season-best 21 points. His previous high of 20 points came in his WVU debut vs. UMass. Kriisa fouled out in the final minute.
Slazinski’s fourth 3-point field goal of the game with 5:10 to play extended the WVU lead to a game-high seven points at 61-54. Slazinski scored 18 points. However, OSU scored the next five points to pull within a basket at 61-59 at the final media timeout.
A 3-pointer from Bryce Thompson with 3:20 to play capped an 8-0 run and gave the Cowboys a 62-61 lead. WVU responded when Pat Suemnick was credited with a basket on a goaltending call, putting the Mountaineers back up 63-62.
After a free throw from Edwards, OSU drew even once again with a pair of free throws from Brandon Garrison. Consecutive free throws from Akok put WVU back up by a basket with 1:12 to play at 66-64.
Garrison led the Cowboys with 20 points. Small added 15 points and 12 rebounds. John-Michael Wright chipped in with ten points. OSU outscored WVU from the foul line 20-8.
“They went to the line and converted. That is probably another difference maker in this contest.”
WVU’s leading scorer RaeQuan Battle was held to two points on 1-of-6 shooting from the floor.
“I need him to be more efficient for us and make better decisions.”
The Mountaineers are now 0-4 in true road games and 0-8 in games played away from Morgantown.
After playing back-to-back road games, the Mountaineers will host two contests next week. WVU welcomes a pair of Big 12 newcomers to the Coliseum as Cincinnati visits Wednesday and BYU comes to Morgantown next Saturday.
[ad_2]
Source link